That Has to Be the Ugliest Half Inning I Have Ever Seen

And surprisingly, it wasn't the Braves who were at fault. At least, they weren't the ones who weren't the ones losing out. I was watching tonight's Braves game against the Diamondbacks, and it was 3-2 D-Backs in the top of the sixth. First, Kotchman lines a ball into right, but it was right at Romero. Infante then comes up and hits a dribbler towards Reynolds, who can't pick the ball off the ground to make the play. Kotsay comes up and hits the ball down the left field line for a double, but the call was questionable as to if it was fair or not. Melvin came out to argue but to no avail. Kelly Johnson, who struck out four times, somehow hit the ball, which was an inch from the ground, down the first base line. The ball hits off a diving Tracy glove and skids into foul territory allowing Infante and Kotsay to score. Haren then lets Jurrjens poke a ball for a single. Melvin decides that Haren has had enough, so he brings in Juan Cruz. All hell breaks lose. Cruz throws four balls, none of which are within a foot or two of the strike zone, to Blanco. He then throws two balls and one strike to Escobar before Cruz hits him in the arm. Then, Cruz makes Chipper look silly and strikes him out to get two outs. So to recap, there are two outs and bases loaded for Brian McCann. It gets to a 3-2 count before McCann lines a ball down the left-field line. Reynolds dives, the ball hits off his glove, he runs to get it while two runs score, throws it past Drew (who was covering third base), Cruz runs to it, throws to second, the ball gets into center field, Hudson dives for it but McCann's slide comes between Hudson and the ball, Hudson's glove hits McCann, his wrist breaks, and another run scores. Hudson rolls around until the trainer takes him off the field while stabilizing the arm. Before the next pitch, McCann steals third as Cruz forgets to pay attention. Cruz throws it to third, but Reynolds can't get to a bad throw and turns his ankle attempting to get away from a sliding McCann. McCann scores, but Reynolds was not seriously hurt and stayed in the game (if he had been hurt, McCann may have needed bodyguards for the next day). To finish it off, Kotchman pops out.

I have never seen an inning quite like that. In the next inning, Jackson slid into the wall down the left-field line, but he wasn't hurt. Melvin had to be sitting in the dugout thinking "Please God let this night end". The Arizona bullpen was pretty ugly on its own while giving up 5 runs in 3 and 2/3 innings. You know its bad in Arizona when you make the Braves look good.

During the broadcast, the D-Back announcers kept talking about how good they looked (except for Escobar letting a ball go through his legs). Obviously, he hasn't watched the Braves very much.